Space Race 2020

Today was the first race of the year for us. It was the 4th Annual Space Race. Unlike most races, this race was in the evening and was only 3 kilometers. And even better yet, it was in the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. Susan, Andrew, and I drove up with plenty of extra time to explore the sights. We started in the Rocket Garden, then hung out in Constellation Plaza, where we jumped on sensors in the pavement that caused a counter to increase. The team who got the most jumps the quickest got to “launch” their rocket. As race time neared, we moved over to the Orbit Cafe.

Saturn IB, in the Rocket Garden

The course started outside the Orbit Cafe, wound behind the Rocket Garden, went South through the parking lot to the main entrance, turned around and went back North, through the bus stop, in front of the Atlantis building, back around the Rocket Garden again, then through the main entrance to the finish line.

Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex Map

Being that this was my first race since the Turkey Trot, I was motivated to redeem myself and finish the race with a respectable time. I got a very slow start due to the mass of humanity in front of me at the starting line who apparently wanted to walk the course. Once past them, Andrew and I jogged together for almost a mile. He dropped off the pace and I continued for a bit longer before dropping back to a walk. I continued the run a bit, walk a bit strategy for the remainder of the race. As I approached the Atlantis exhibit, I tried to fire myself up by thinking about all the astronauts who flew in the Space Shuttle over the years. Would they have walked the course? Of course not, they were all highly motivated and disciplined individuals. It didn’t help; I still walked past the exhibit. In the end, I finished in 20:11, which is a pace of 10:51 per mile.

For more pictures, click below.